HERITAGE TOURISM:A MAJOR marketing campaign has begun worldwide to use the recently released 1901 and 1911 censuses to bring tourists with an Irish heritage to Ireland.
The Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin launched the “This is the Year to Come Home” campaign in New York on Monday. It is aimed at millions of Americans of Irish descent. A similar campaign was launched yesterday in London.
Hanafin said the Who Do You Think You Are?programme, which started on the BBC and is now airing in the US, had brought a renewed desire by many to trace their roots.
She said: “Everybody knows their cousins, aunts and uncles, but the idea of tracing back beyond that in an exciting way has been presented through those television programmes.
“We’re saying to people living abroad, trace your roots, see who you are, then make that link and come visit us. It is an important part of heritage and cultural tourism.”
Tourism Ireland is sending out a targeted mail shot to 250,000 people in key cities around the US who will receive personalised direct marketing to their homes highlighting special offers with travel partners and encouraging them that now is the time to make that trip home to Ireland.
The 1901 census was put online last month and has already attracted 11 million hits. About 30 per cent of those came from the UK.
Hanafin said she had been emphasising during recent visits to Frankfurt, New York and London that Ireland now constituted very good value for money because of the fall in the value of the euro and also the fall in the cost of living in Ireland as a result of the recession.
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